A Once Great Friend
by AuraBeWithMe
Summary: This story tells the tale of Ash Ketchum returning home. It's been 15 years since Ash left Pallet Town on his pokemon journey. Now at age 25 Ash is going back to Kanto. It's been almost 8 years since his friends have actually seen him and no one knows what's going to happen when he comes home as a surprise. This is my first fanfiction. I hope you like it.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Just a Dream

**Author's Note: **Hey guys, this is my first fanfiction and I hope you like it. Just so you all know, I don't have a set path for this story so all suggestions/ideas are welcome. Thanks for taking a look and I hope you enjoy the read. Rated M for certain reason later on in the story.

"You shake with fear Ash." Grimsley told his challenger with confidence. Ash just chuckled prior to a small smirk being revealed on the cocky young man's face. "We'll see about that Grimsley." Drawing his first partner of his Unova League challenge from the inside of his jacket, he roared with confidence, "Charizard, I choose YOU!" As Charizard was released from his pokeball just puffed smoke from his nostrils and assumed his battle stance, already familiar with the challenge he would take on. "Wise choice Ash. Putting a fire type like Charizard against a dark pokemon wouldn't leave you at a disadvantage. But you're forgetting one thing. These are **my **dark pokemon." Ash stood still preparing for any pokemon that would come out of Grimsley's hand. "Let's end this quickly Bisharp." As Ash and Charizard looked onto the battlefield, Bisharp appeared taking on the stance of a warrior, preparing himself." 'A steel and dark type..' Ash thought to himself. 'This should be interesting.' The referee called out to start the battle and as soon as Ash could imagine Bisharp was charging towards Charizard while preparing a night slash as if it was routine for the beginning of any battle. "Charizard dodge it now!" Ash yelled to his companion. Without being able to react Charizard took a nasty blow from the well trained Bisharp. "Charizard get up and take to the air!" Following orders without any problem Charizard using the power of his wings flew up and circled Bisharp who was stuck on the ground. "Use your flamethrower, full power!" Ash commanded to Charizard. Without hesitation Grimsley aided Bisharp by telling him to go on the run. Running towards the steel arena wall Bisharp heard a call from his master. "Rebound off the wall and use aerial ace!" While moving out of the way of Charizard's lethal flamethrower Bisharp took a leap and bounced off the wall with no problem, using his aerial ace precisely he nailed Charizard head on throwing him to the ground. "No, Charizard! Come on you can do it." Ash's longtime friend struggled to get up off the ground, but to Grimsley's amazement, was able to reassume his battle stance. "Guillotine, Bisharp." Bisharp charged even faster than his night slash rush he hit Charizard harder than ever. 'Oh no..' were the only words in Ash's thoughts. No doubt about it Charizard was out for the count as the referee announced it. "Charizard is unable to batter. Therefore, Grimsley's Bisharp is the winner. "I'm impressed Bisharp. Return." With a round one win Grimsley was feeling very confident in his pokemon's skills. "Alright Ash, ready for another round?" "You know it." 'I'll get him this time.' Ash was not giving up so easily. Grimsley had already made his choice as he sent out Krookadile. "Alright Sceptile, let's go!" The strong and quick grass pokemon was released and looked into Krookadile's eyes. Grimsley was starting to feel a little different about this battle. "Sceptile use slam now!" Sceptile let out a taunt as he obeyed Ash's command. "Krookadile outrage now!" As Krookadile was readying to attack he had lost his target. "Look out!" Sceptile had launched from the side of the ground type pokemon swiftly grabbing him and throwing him down with all of his might. "Krroook.." Grimsley's pokemon let out a small whimper. He was unable to battle. "Very nice Ash. You've impressed me. I guess we've got one more round." "Let's do it! Torterra I choose you!" The ground shook from the momentum of the turtle like pokemon. "Absol, let's end this." Absol was brought onto the field in a beautiful manner for such a dark pokemon. "Alright Torterra, earthquake now!" "Absol leap onto Torterra as quick as you can!" The beauty of a pokemon ran straight across the battlefield onto the shell of Ash's pokemon. "Torterra use slam full power!" Ash was anxious to land a blow to the foe's Absol. Successfully slamming his target, Torterra roared with power as Absol lay on the ground. "It's all or nothing now. Hmmph. Absol.. Use perish song now." Ash stood in awe as he heard the music that no one liked to hear coming from an enemy. "Torterra stay with me!" But Torterra was already out. "Torterra!" Ash pleaded his partner to get up, but to no avail. 'This is it. I lost. It's all over, my challenge, my goal, everything. Ash was beginning to feel great sorrow.

"_**BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!"**_

"Huh? Oh, guess it's time to get up." Nudging his electric friend, Ash got up out of bed and walked to the kitchen and turned on the TV in the living room. He began to prepare a cup of coffee for himself as he saw a commercial come up on the screen. **"Attention all trainers above the age of 21! A tag team tournament will be taking place the weekend of January 4****th**** to celebrate the New Year! The event will take place in Saffron City of the Kanto Region so come on down and celebrate a weekend of battling and partying to celebrate the New Year!**

"Hmmm, I guess it has been a while.. Hey Pikachu, we're going home."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: An Unwelcome Guest

"Ya Mom, I'll be in around the end of the month. I wish I could come home now too. Ya, that's when sign-ups begin and I want to finish up their training before I take off towards Kanto. I still need to decide who my partner will be. Mom he's probably busy. Alright I'll try him. Bye see you soon! Love you too." "Say, Pikachu, how would you feel about showing up a bit early for Christmas?" "Pikaa!" Ash could tell that made his friend happy. "Alright buddy, we'll leave in a couple days." Pikachu just smiled greatly in response.

**A few hours later..**

"Pikachu, I'll be right back." Pikachu wasn't paying any attention to Ash as he was trying to fall asleep on the couch. Ash headed off to his room and picked up the phone. He had a hard time remembering the number and he tried looking it up, but to no avail. "Hmm. Guess I'll just give the gym a call." Punching a quick 10 digits into his phone he waited for an answer. "Hey Forrest, it's me Ash. I know I'm sorry I haven't called lately. How are things with you and… Ya of course that's right. That's good Forrest. I hate to cut you short, but could you put Brock on? No it's ok, just tell him I called. Thanks." Ash hung up the phone disappointedly. 'What is Brock possibly doing in Cerulean?' Ash thought to himself.

**The next day.. (December 12****th****)**

Ash woke up once again next to his buddy Pikachu. This time without waking him, Ash walked into the hall closing the bedroom door behind him. After walking through the couple of hallways in his quite nice condo Ash found himself slipping on his shoes and taking the elevator down to the lobby. Ash let out a short yawn as he arrived downstairs. "Good morning Mr. Ketchum." Ash was greeted by everyone in the lobby as he made his way to the gym a couple of rooms away. All he did was his usual workout routine that happened to be working quite well as he was becoming more and more defined week after week. As Ash finished he thought to himself. 'Now it's time for the real training.' He reached to his waist and grabbed a pokeball containing none other than the fighting pokemon Lucario. "Good morning Master." "Oh, good morning Lucario." Ash was still getting used to training a pokemon that is capable of speaking human language; as Ash had only been reunited with and captured his friend a couple of weeks ago.

Lucario got straight into his usual routine and started strengthening his core. Ash even got a little jealous since it takes almost 10x as much work for Lucario to get tired compared to himself. As Lucario was moving into his second station there was a knock on the door. A confused Ash showed a look on his face. "Who is it?" The door opened revealing a man that Ash didn't have the best relationship named Devin. "Good morning Ash. I was in the neighborhood and I thought I would stop by and well.. Well I'll get right to it. I'd love to greet this day beautiful day with a pokemon battle." Ash was reluctant to even talk to him, but he figured he might as well let him down easy. "Devin, I've got stuff I need to get done as you can see." "Oh no, I get it Ash. Don't worry about it. Maybe another time?" Ash was confused as to why Devin wasn't being his usual, cocky, rude self. "Uh ya sure another time would be fine." "Good to know Ash, I'll see you soon. I feel it." Ash shrugged it off and continued his training with Lucario. "Left, right, right, left!" Ash yelled as Lucario punched and kicked in unison.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Catching Up**

Ash put his plate down and put his feet up on the table. As quickly as he started to daze off and fall asleep, he woke up to the sound of a distant ring. "You've got to be kidding me" he moaned. Luckily Pikachu was in the room with the source of the ringing and was kind enough to bring the phone to Ash. "Thanks buddy." Pikachu just nodded, curled up, and started to fall asleep.

"Hello? Oh, hey Brock! Ya I called the other day and wanted to talk to you about something. I know it's been a while but what would you think if I came home for a while?" _**"ASH ARE YOU KIDDING MEEEEE?!" **_Pikachu quickly woke up from his nap to screaming coming from the opposite end of Ash's phone. Whining like a baby, Pikachu found another room and went straight back to sleep. "Woah woah Brock calm down! I don't know for how long, but I'd be home before Christmas to surprise everyone." Ash's eyes suddenly lit up. "She's having another party?! I can't wait to get home now! Yes, but don't tell anyone Brock. I want it to be a surprise. Ya I'll talk to you when I'm on the train. Alright talk to you soon." 'And the plan is officially underway' Ash thought to himself. Trying not to wake Pikachu, Ash opened the door and headed out to do some errands.

An hour later Ash found himself at a pharmacy looking through shelf after shelf in search of the vitamins both he and Lucario had been taking. 'I've been looking for 20 minutes!' Ash thought to himself. He spotted a figure who happened to appear as if they worked in the building. "Excuse me, could you help me find the vita" He was cut off quickly. "Oh my, I'm sorry I don't work here." The woman blushed as she started to walk away. "Wait you look familiar.." Ash said as he pondered as to who it could be. "Wait a second.. Ash?! Oh my god it's been so long!" Ash looked at her with a look of amazement. "May I can't believe it's you I almost didn't recognize you after all these years." Ash was more excited than he had been in a long time. They started making idle conversation as they were almost strangers after a long time apart, but it didn't get much better. Then May mentioned a contest in Kanto that she would be leaving for soon and it brought a spark back to the conversation. "May, I'm actually going to visit Pallet in just a couple of days if you'd like some company" Ash said suggestively. "Oh I'd love to Ash! By the way, the vitamins you were looking for are right here!" She smiled as Ash showed an embarrassed look on his face. "Thanks" was all he could say and it managed to get a laugh out of May. They exchanged contacts and agreed to talk in a few days when they were ready to leave and once again said goodbye; just not for as long this time.

**3 Days Later (December 20****th****)**

"Ya I'm ready to leave now. The train leaves at 5 so we have a little extra time. Sure I'll meet you at the station. Ok good see you there!" Ash hadn't felt this type of excitement in a long time.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: I Missed You**

"Yeah May I'm here now. Uh huh, okay see you in a few minutes." Ash hung up the phone and leaned up against a pillar while he and Pikachu waited for their friend to arrive at the train station. "We should probably wait by the entrance. Just in case she can't find us." Pikachu nodded in agreement. Ash quickly turned around the pillar to walk towards the entrance of the station. **"AHHH!" **"Oh my god I'm so sorry!" pleaded Ash. He had turned the corner so quick that he had bumped into a woman walking with a bunch of blueprints. The prints were scattered everywhere as Ash quickly began to pick them up one by one with the assistance of Pikachu. "I'm so sorry ma'am I didn't mean to." "It's okay you really just caught me off guard." The woman had a blush cross her face. "Well if there's anything I can do just tell me." The woman just smirked. "I might be able to think of something." 'Uh oh this isn't good' Ash thought as he tried to let the woman down easy. "I really can't, I'm sorry." The woman just said "I see" and began to walk away. 'That was weird" Ash thought.

As Ash saw a familiar face come through the entrance tunnel to the train he waved to catch May's attention. "May over here!" Ash caught her attention and May looked at him with a grin of excitement. "I'm ready whenever you are" Ash told her. In fact, May had already prepared and came with ticket in hand. The two stepped onto the magnet train and exhaled with satisfaction. They were riding the magnet train in first class seats; seats that Ash never even knew were a thing. "Well we should probably get to our rooms before we do anything." Ash just nodded in agreement. "Want to meet in about an hour?" Ash suggested to his unbelievably beautiful friend. 'I never noticed how good looking she was' he thought in his head. "Yeah an hour seems fine. I'll see you in a bit." The two headed towards their rooms which were almost on opposite sides of the train.

Ash arrived in his room and set his jacket on the small chair that sat next to the far end of the bed. For some odd reason he couldn't help but think about a certain girl. "Pikachu. Do you think she'll be there when we get home?" asked a concerned Ash. Pikachu looked at his master and nodded more sure than ever. He knew exactly who Ash was talking about and his actions had left a smile on Ash's face. "I sure hope so."

On the opposite side of the train May had just settled in. She lay out on the bed just running her fingers through her hair. May had no idea how she was feeling about reuniting with Ash and traveling with him again. 'I wonder if he feels the same way' was all that came to her mind.

An hour had passed and the two had met where they said they would; however, Ash was just a little late. "Way to keep me waiting." May had a stern look on her face as Ash apologized. "Ash, I'm joking its fine!" Ash felt relieved that his friend wasn't actually mad at him. "So why don't we get something to eat?" Ash asked her. "I could do that." The two sat down to order a fine meal in their first class dining room. The room only had two other occupants and quickly finishing their meal, the other two occupants had left the room. This left Ash and May in the room alone; for the first time in a long time. An awkward silence came through the room as the only sound was that of forks hitting glass plates. "So uh, May what have you been up to? I never got the chance to ask." "The same old thing really. Just travelling around, seeing what the world has to offer me, and a couple contests here and there. How about yourself Ash?" Ash sat trying to think of a short and sweet answer. "Well I've been wandering here and there but finally settled down in a building in Castelia City." "Oh so you're officially living in Unova now?" "Well actually, I have been for the last 2 years." A startled May had a surprised look on her face. "Wow I never thought you would have left Kanto that early." "Ya me either.." Ash had a somewhat sad look cross his face. May tried her best to change the subject, but to no avail as the dinner was over. Ash got up; "I better get going May." May nodded and looked at him. She stood up and grabbed him by his rough shoulders pulling him in to a warm embrace and a more than passionate hug. "I missed you Ash." Ash had a small blush on his face and returned May's action. "I missed you too."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Some Sort of Homecoming**

**Author's Note: **This is going to be a longer chapter so it might take me a little bit longer to write. On the good side, I've been getting my first chapters in quickly. So anyway, here's Chapter 5 of "A Once Great Friend."

**Blooper Note: **Just so everyone knows I am aware that the magnet train runs from Johto to Kanto. This is part of my fanfiction and I've decided it's the best way of short transportation as it travels over 300mph.

_**Two Days Later..**_

A voice came over the intercom in each room on the magnet train. **"Attention all passengers, we are now arriving in Saffron City of the Kanto Region. All passengers must depart from the train within the next half an hour, as we need to get going on the next trip. Thank you for choosing us as your way of travel. We hope you have a great stay in the Kanto Region."** The intercom powered off.

Ash was finishing packing his things as he heard a knock on the door. "Ash are you ready to go? We need to get going if we want to make it on time!" May was in a hurry and Ash was taking his precious time. "I'm coming May, just give me a second." Ash brushed his teeth and was packing his last items. He put everything away and picked his jacket up off of the chair he had set it on. After making sure he had all of his pokemon and his belongings he opened up the door and followed May through the corridor leading to the exit of the train.

May and Ash got off the train and they took in the fresh air of the busiest city in Kanto. "I haven't been here in years." Ash said. "Ash, I'd love to take in the air and go see everything, but if we're to make it to Pallet before Christmas we need to get going." Ash had a smirk cross his face. "I forgot to tell you May, we have a faster way of travel." "What are you talking about?" May was confused and had no idea what he was talking about. They created a distance from the train station as Ash didn't want to disturb anyone. "Alright this should be good." May didn't know what that meant and might have had a wrong idea cross her mind. Ash reached into his jacket and revealed a strange looking pokeball. "Salamence, I need your assistance." Were the words that escaped Ash's mouth. A red beam summoned the dragon pokemon and Salamence let out a deafening roar as he puffed tons of smoke out of his nose.

"So May, shall I take you to your destination?" Ash asked her. "Ash isn't this a little extreme?" Ash just shrugged it off and told her it was the fastest way if both of them were to make it to their cities on time. "Fine let's go" May wasn't the flying type and never enjoyed it. Ash laughed as he already seemed to know this prior to releasing Salamence. "So Vermilion it is." Ash hopped on Salamence's back and helped May up behind him. She wrapped her arms tightly around Ash's waist. "Salamence, take flight." The dragon pokemon let out another loud roar and released smoke as he flapped his wings taking to the air.

After a quick ride to Viridian City, Ash commanded Salamence to land so they could drop off May. "May, it was nice seeing you again." "You too Ash, I really missed you." She grabbed Ash's shoulder and leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you soon Ash. Stay in touch." She waved as Ash commanded Salamence and took off to the skies. May heard the deafening roar once again and knew it was not the last time she would see Ash.

"To Pewter City, Salamence." He just gave a snort of smoke in response. After an hour of flying, making idle conversation with his form of transportation, and taking in the view of Kanto's skyline Ash had made it above Pewter City. He scanned the area to find the gym and after a little bit of searching, without any trouble, he found it. "Land there" he told Salamence as he pointed to the gym. Ash dropped down off of Salamence. "Thank you, take a rest now." The dragon pokemon was returned to his pokeball. Ash knocked on the door of the gym and then instantly headed inside. He knew that Forrest had taken over the gym, but had learned a couple of days ago that Brock brought his breeding skills back to Pewter to help his brother by making the gym pokemon stronger. As he walked into the gym the first thing he saw was one pokemon charging at another, the other being the one and only Onix. Onix was being attacked by a Dodrio and had no problem taking the hits. Ash heard a familiar voice call out. "Onix use rock slide now!" The voice was none other than the gym leader Forrest. The rock slide was a direct hit and instantly knocked out the Dodrio. This left a sad look on the challenger's face, reminding Ash of how he himself used to feel. Forrest gave the challenger a speech and by the end of it, the challenger was more confident than before. The challenger was passed Ash as he was escorted out and to the pokemon center.

"Forrest!" Ash called out to him. "Ash, is that you? It's been so long, what're you doing here?" Ash explained that he was here to come home for the holidays and to spend a weekend at a tournament. "Interesting, interesting." Forrest said. Forrest motioned for Ash to follow him and brought him through a few hallways that led to a door to the outside of the gym. Forrest opened the door to reveal a familiar face caring for a load of pokemon. "Hey Brock, someone's here to see you." Forrest revealed Ash and Brock instantly went crazy. "Ash?! I knew you were coming, but not so early!" "Yeah sorry, I decided I would come in to surprise you a bit early. And to make sure I wasn't late." Ash's trademark grin crossed his face causing Brock and Forrest to laugh.

After an hour or so of catching up on each other's lives and adventures Ash was shown to the room where he would spend the night at the gym. The two said their goodnights as Ash was getting ready to sleep. Tomorrow would be big day.

After a long sleep, Ash awoke naturally and just took couple of deep breaths. Today was the day before Christmas. In other words, the day Ash would go home, to his mother's house, which would be full of longtime friends who were attending the annual Christmas party. Ash was feeling a little nervous. As Pikachu woke up Ash just greeted him. "Morning buddy." Pikachu smiled at him.


End file.
